Us Against The World
by DudeManShoot
Summary: Salem and Alexis Pearce are siblings who have it all; amazing boyfriends, great friends, and earning their degrees. Will their college level thinking help them when the world ends? Heavy Language  May change rating in later chapters . Bad at summaries.D:
1. Teaser Trailer

So this is just the teaser trailer to the story. Trust me, the chapters are longer than this.

(Yes this little bit will actually be in the story).

I hope you like this little bit as this is how the story will be laid out through it all.

Teaser Trailer

The halls outside were filled with a collaboration of blood curdling screams and the howls of the undead. As my eyes glanced around the cramped office all I could see was the terror upon the blood stained face of those that were left after the outbreak hit our university. When we had first heard about it, we thought it was all a joke, or that it was some foreign sickness that would blow over much like swine flu or mad cow disease. Little did we know, that what had started off only two days before in the southern states was now terrorizing our campus here in New York City.

"Salem?" I jumped at the break in the silence, "What are we going to do?" I heard the whispered words echo in the room.

Even though I knew the undead could not hear such a faint noise it struck fear any time the slightest movement was made amongst the group. The truth was, I had no idea what we were going to do. I had only gotten us this far purely from playing off of guessing games and luck. It was out of sheer luck that Dr. Xiang had even been alive and willingly opened her door to help the frightened students and officers into the only safe room they could find.

As I lay there against the door I stare at the others, mirroring the terror and worry visible upon their faces. I knew then that they all knew that much like them, I had no more ideas as to where to go. Seeing the library as the largest and most reinforced building, it had been my first choice of safety. The problem was; everyone on the campus had the same idea.

"Officer Harring…" I slowly let my gaze fall upon the sturdy male. The look on my face clearly was pleading for him to have a plan. The only response I got was silence as my eyes drug slowly in the direction of the female officer, Angela. Her eyes were directed toward the ground, but I knew she could feel my gaze upon her.

"We have to get out of here." My eyes quickly found their way back to Officer Harring as he began to speak. He scanned the room as he spoke. "If we can get to one of those S.W.A.T. vans outside we can hopefully find some place that is safer, and use the radio to find out what the hell is going on." As I looked upon the others faces I knew they felt the same uncertainty as I did. We all knew he was right, but we were all feeling the same surge of fear rain over us at the thought of going back out into that war zone.

"I'll lead the way." Harring continued as he turned and whispered something to Officer Poralis, receiving a nod as a response. I could tell that they were trying to be brave and professional, but in their eyes they were terrified. However, terror quickly was shoved to the side as adrenaline began to become the main event in my body.

Lining ourselves up, to make our exit more clean and quick, we all braced ourselves for what was about to come. Harring glanced back to the group as he placed his hand on the door handle asking everyone if they were ready. I nodded eagerly with the remaining survivors as we heard the shuffling of footsteps right outside of the door, knowing well who they belonged to. Without a second thought, Harring swung the door open and we all followed him quickly out into the hallway. I could already hear the first few shots being fired into the roaring crowd as I emerged through the door way, back into the line of fire.

I hope you liked the Teaser Trailer! Chapter 1, 2, and 3 are already written and will probably be posted very soon. ANYWAY! I hope you keep with me and PLEASE REVIEW! Let me know what you think, it surely helps! :D


	2. Chapter 1: SALEM POV

AND IT BEGINS! Heeeeere is chapter 1! I hope you guys like it! :D

Chapter 1: Salem

"Can't we just skip today, Alexis?" I pleaded to my sister as I stared out of the front windshield seeing our approach to the University coming closer.

Her only response was a silent smirk followed by her flicking on her blinker to turn into the commuter parking lot of the University. I huffed loudly as I threw myself against the back of the seat, realizing that trying to get her to agree with me was a lost cause. It was true that I was not the best student when it came to wanting to go to class, but my sister was the exact opposite. In the end, I knew she was only thinking about my future and how much getting a degree truly meant to me even if I didn't show it.

"Watch for a spot." My attention was back to where we were as my sister spoke. "This is the only downside to both of us not having a class until after ten, everyone is already here." I nodded in agreement with her as we both scanned the parking lot, quietly singing along to the song that played on her car stereo as she exclaimed her finding of a parking spot. It was good she had seen one as I had stopped paying attention to what I was doing a few seconds beforehand.

As we both stepped out of the car I immediately heard my sisters scolding tone as she realized just then that I had not been wearing my seat belt during that entire car ride. She had to have known that I would not be wearing it; I never did. The seatbelt seemed unnecessary to me, especially in New York City traffic. It always moved so slowly that even if we did have an accident, it would only be a small fender bender that would do nothing.

"I hear you." I responded as I flung my backpack straps over my shoulders. "I will wear it next time, I promise." She glared at me as I spoke as she grabbed her own backpack.

"You better." Was the only response I got from her before we both closed and locked the car doors and started toward the campus.

"Hey babe, you're a bit early." My sister's boyfriend, Riley Hammond, spoke as the two of us entered the on-campus coffee shop where we always hung out before our classes.

Looking at the screen of my cell phone I realized that he was right, we really were nearly thirty minutes early for our classes. Shrugging he looked over to his sister asking if she wanted some coffee as he was going to get some for himself.

"Sure." He could hear the surprise in her voice that he was offering to get her coffee. "Just get me a Skinny Vanilla Latte with soy." I nodded as she paused for a brief moment, smiling. "Thank you." I brushed off the thanks as I walked toward the coffee counter and quickly gave our orders to the young female barista that stood, smiling, behind the counter.

It was not long before our coffee was ready and I brought it to my sister, noticing that my best friend, Julia Morrigan, had arrived within the time period that I had gone to order the coffee. As I sat down, sipping on my coffee, I could hear Julia talking about some tragedy happening in the south that she had heard on the news or something.

"What happened?" I asked, after hearing the end of the conversation having to deal with the government being involved and the word quarantine had been thrown into the mix.

"Hey," Julia acknowledged my presence with a smile, the same as she always did. "I was just talking about this random disease that has infected the south. Apparently it started in Mexico and has now been spotted in Texas…" She paused for a moment as she glanced down to her phone on the table that vibrated loudly signaling she had just received a text message. "Sorry, dumb phone." She apologized with a slight giggle. "Anyway, that's about all I know. The only thing that they really said was that the government had quarantined many of the southern cities in Texas where there have been confirmed cases of the disease and that they are sure that they have it under control." She shrugged as she looked down to her phone, toying with the screen as she read the message that had just been sent to her.

"Well, that's certainly weird, but I guess it's luckily that we don't live down there." Riley was the first to respond as Alexis merely nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's good that they have it under control, though." I took a sip of my coffee, enjoying the warm liquid as it dazzled my taste buds. "About time this damn government does something good." I rolled my eyes as I spoke, knowing well that the others verbal agreements were well expected considering what was happening with the economy in this day and age.

"Fuck." Julia cursed as she stood up from her seat. "We better get to class guys; we only have a little over ten minutes." She sighed as she slung her bag over her shoulders.

Alexis and I stood up from out seats as she and Riley kissed quickly before they parted. Julia, Alexis, and I exited the coffee shop, waving good-bye to Riley as we walked out of the glass doors.

"Hey you!" I smiled as a heard the words in the familiar voice ring behind me. I turned around to see my boyfriend, Jacob Concord, walking toward me with a bright smile on his perfect face. I heard Alexis and Julia make side comments about P.D.A. as Jacob approached us, but I paid them no mind as I gave him a quick kiss and hug as a greeting.

"Well hey there babe, where have you been this morning?" I asked him as I adjusted my bag on my back. This abundance of books was sure to kill me by the end of the semester.

"Sorry." He apologized with a smirk. I both hate and love how his smirk made me melt every time I saw it. "I did not hear my alarm go off this morning and I woke up a little late." I felt his hand caress my arm as he spoke and I felt a smile creep across my face.

"Please, if you two were anymore disgusting." My attention was taken back into the real world as my sister scoffed at the two of us. I could hear Jacob laugh slightly at her statement as I turned toward her blushing. "Anyway, we need to get to class, and so do you." Alexis slapped my shoulder as she and Julia continued walking out of the student center.

"She's right babe, come on, let's get to class." I nudged Jacob with my elbow as I turned around and he followed. I was definitely happy to say that the two of us were in the same class at ten in the morning on Monday. It made every beginning of the week a little bit more bearable.

"I am so ready for this week to be over already." Julia pushed open the glass doors as I pushed my sunglasses down over my eyes as the sun fought to hinder my eyesight.

"I know what you mean." Alexis answered as we approached the Liberal Arts building. "Yet, it has only just begun." She rolled her eyes as she and Julia turned off to head into the building, both of them waving their good-byes announcing that they would see us for lunch.

I sighed heavily as I looked up to see the Communications building standing before us in a matter of a few steps. I truly was not looking forward to starting off my day in this speech class, but I was happy that at least I got to have Jacob in the class with me. I looked over to him to see that he was already staring at me with his hypnotic green eyes. I could not help but smile at him in response to his already grinning face.

"Well, let's get this over with." Jacob spoke through a sigh as the two of us entered the Communications building for our class.

Approaching our classroom I opened the door and let him in first, deciding it was my turn to be the gentleman in the situation. I stared at the classroom seeing that we were two of the last ones there. Taking our seats we noticed our professor was not there, which was definitely out of the ordinary.

"Huh, looks like I'm not the only one who didn't hear their alarm this morning." Jacob said as he tapped his pen against the desk in a repeated rhythm. Although it was one of my pet peeves, I always tend to let it go when he does it. I shrugged at his comment not really sure what to say and looked down at my phone screen noticing it was already passed the time for class to have started.

As Jacob and I continued talking I began to feel a bit uncomfortable that our professor had not yet shown up. It was not like her to not come to class. From what I knew this professor had never missed a single class time since her being hired at the University, but all I could think and hope was that there was a first time for everything.

"Well two more minutes and we can get out of this class for the day." My concentration was back on our conversation as Jacob announced what I already knew. Somehow his ease with the situation put me at ease as well. "What's wrong?" _Damn. _Apparently the ease did not show on my face.

"Oh." I blurted; my mouth starting before my brain even had time to process a response. "Nothing I was just thinking about what there is to do at this time." _I'm such a liar_ was all I could think as I let the words slip passed my lips. By the look on Jacob's face I could tell that he did not believe me in the slightest, however, he said nothing against it out of respect.

"Well well." He smiled at me as he grabbed his bag, and I knew what that meant. "It has been fifteen minutes, and she is not here. I think that means that she can read minds and knew we didn't want to be here today." Somehow his words put me at ease, and with the smile on his face I could tell my face displayed my new sense of ease.

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed quietly as I grabbed my bag, noticing the rustling of the other students in the class as they too began to gather their items to leave. "Let's go get you a coffee…you look tired." I joked to him as we followed the other students out of the classroom, laughing with each other.

So there you have it! There is chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it! Nothing intense happening yet, but just wait…juuuuuust wait! :D PLEASE REVIEW! Would love to hear what you think! :D


	3. Chapter 2: ALEXIS POV

Heeeeere is chapter 2! In Alexis' POV! :D ENJOY!

Chapter 2: Alexis

Leave it to me to be the one that owns the phone that vibrates as loud as if the ringer were actually on. Looking around I noticed that I had, luckily, been the only one who had heard the loud sound in the class. With the professor just having shown up only a few minutes before, class had yet to start and I snatched my phone from the depths of my purse and looked at it. The notification was for a text message sent from my brother telling me that his class had been cancelled.

"Excuse me!" I snapped my head up, assuming that the professor had caught me on my cell phone, only to see that he was not even looking in my direction. Dropping my phone into my purse I listened to the professor as the classroom grew quiet. "As unusual as it sounds we are going to have to cancel class today." He paused for a moment. "Please…just go home."

I couldn't help but notice how quickly the professor had left the classroom after speaking before I slowly gathered my things and walked into the hallway sending my brother a reply about my class coincidentally being cancelled as well.

Putting away my phone I couldn't help but keep playing back the way my Professor had acted while he was saying that class was going to be cancelled. I could sense that he was truly uneasy about something. By the way the class had remained silent I was sure that everyone else felt the same way as I did.

"Hey, was your class cancelled too?" I was broken from my train of thought as I turned to see my brother's best friend, Julia, approaching me; her class scattering behind her. I only nodded in response as another girl walked up behind her. I knew that I knew her, but at the time could not remember her name.

"Yeah, it looks like a lot of classes are being cancelled." I heard the other girl speak as I looked around, noticing for the first time the students flooding the hallways.

It was not long before we were back at the coffee shop being greeted by my brother, Jacob, and Riley. I sat down next to Riley in the seat Jacob and Salem had so kindly left open for me before I quickly gave him a peck on the lips as a greeting.

"Julia, Hayley," and I now knew her name again. "Your classes were cancelled, too?" My brother was the first to begin as I realized I had not told him that the other two girls were with me.

"Yeah, our professor just walked in, said it was cancelled and then left in a hurry." Julia broke the silence as Hayley nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but find it strange that both of our professors had done the exact same thing.

The others continued discussing how it was strange that class after class at the university was being cancelled, but my mind was far away from the conversation at hand. I still could not seem to be able to get what my professor had said out of my mind. The way he had acted was just so abnormal. It was as if he was scared or worried about something and he just had not told us what it was, but for every professor to have cancelled class it had to have been bigger then what everyone was letting on.

"Babe," My mind was brought back to reality as I looked over to Riley; he had a look of concern upon his face. "Are you alright?" He asked me as I felt his hand caress my upper back.

"Uh," I paused for a moment before smiling back at him and standing up from my seat. "Yeah, I am just tired." I could only hope that he believed me, but the look on his face told me he did not. "I am going to get a coffee."

"Ok, if you say so." He rubbed my arm as I started on my way to the counter.

I always appreciated how he did not question me even when I knew he did not believe me. Something in me told me that eventually he and I would talk about it, though. I walked over to the counter not specifically wanting to actually order a coffee, but I knew that if I came back without one that it would seem rather odd.

"You're such a liar." I was startled at the sudden voice coming from behind me. "What is really wrong with you?" I looked over to see my brother leaning on the counter, staring at me with one quirked brow.

"What are you talking about? I am fine." I was such a bad liar.

"You're also full of shit." I could not help but smile at his determination to find out the truth. Luckily, the barista behind the counter walked over and asked what she could get the two of us.

Pausing only for a brief moment I smiled and gave the young woman my order before my brother quickly threw his on top of it and threw his debit card on the counter in front of her. I sighed as I put my card back in clutch and turned to him. He was still staring at me with the same quizzical brow as he pushed himself away from the counter with his arms crossed.

"Ok, fine." I sighed as I looked at him. "I don't know, I guess I'm just a little confused on why all of our classes were cancelled." I paused for a moment. "And the way my professor was acting…I don't know…it was just odd."

"Yeah," this answer seemed to suffice for him. "I know what you mean. It's got me a little uneasy too." He paused for a moment, uncrossing his arms and letting his hands fall into his pockets. His once quizzical brow now furrowed in thought. "I am sure that if something was really wrong, though, they would let us know."

The problem with his statement was that I was not even so sure that he believed himself when he said it. There was just a sibling sixth sense that we both had that helped us to know when the other was either lying or upset. We both knew that he was probably right, but there was still something that was unsettling to the both of us.

As our coffee orders were called out I grabbed them both and then handed my brother his coffee, thanking him for the purchase of mine. Walking back over to the table we could tell that everyone at our table was watching something on one of the flat screen televisions that was set up in the coffee shop. As I sat down I looked up to the screen and saw that it was a news report. When I listened a bit more carefully I was able to catch the ending of the report.

_"…death toll is sky-rocketing and reports from  
>these riots are pouring in from nearly every<br>southern state in the country. The government  
>is not willing to comment on anything at this<br>time, but we have been told that the U.S. Army  
>is prepared just in case these incidents grow to<br>be too much for the local Police Departments…"_

The reporter went on talking about these so called _incidents_ as my attention went back to the rest of the group that was sitting around the table. They all had nearly the same expression on their face as they turned their attention from the screen to each other.

"Was that a report about what you had been talking about, Julia?" I knew the answer to my own question as I asked it, but I knew the silence had to be broken somehow. The only response I got was a nod from Julia as she looked around at the others waiting for someone else to say anything.

"Well at least the government is getting involved." Jacob had a surprising upbeat tone that contrasted the overall morale of those sitting at the table at the time. All of us knew that if out day had been going normally as it was that we would have just let that report go as nothing. "They will be able to do something about it. I say we just enjoy our day off."

"Jacob's right." Hayley was the first to speak as we all somewhat voiced our agreement with the two of them. "So, what do you guys want to do?"

By the immediate silence I could tell no one was really sure how to answer the question as we were all unsure as to whether or not we would have anymore classes for the rest of the day. By the looks of things, however, we were all going to be free to have the day off. Looking around I noticed that all of the other students were living their lives as they did every day. It appeared we were the only ones that were even being affected by any of this.

"Let's just hang out." Riley offered as I again felt his hand gently rub my back. I smiled at him and nodded, agreeing with his offer as I sat back in the seat finally letting myself relax.

Aaaand there ya have it! Chapter numero dos! Hope you're still  
>liking it! I know I am enjoying writing it! :D PLEASE REVIEW!<br>The more reviews, the faster I update to please the masses! Woo!


	4. Chapter 3: SALEM POV

Hereeeeee goes Chapter 3! Thank you to all those who have been reading! I hope you guys love it so far! :D AND BOOM! HERE IT IS!

Chapter 3: Salem

I hated to admit that I completely adored the fact that classes had been cancelled for the entire day. It just meant that our weekend had been extended one more day, and we were actually awake to enjoy the day off. We had spent the entire morning sitting in the on-campus coffee shop and talking.

"What is that all about?" Hayley asked pointing out of the window. I sent my gaze out of the window only to see a group of police vehicles pulling up to the atrium and a large amount of officers exiting their vehicles and scattering throughout the campus. Two officers, one male and one female, were jogging to the student center where we were located.

"I wonder if this is why we're not in class today." Alexis broke the silence, the others giving a nod or a shrug as a response.

On the inside I was partially hoping that the officers that ran toward the student center were going to let us know what exactly is going on and why there was the need for so many officers that were being dispatched to the campus. Many thoughts filled my head as I wondered if there was a student with a gun somewhere on campus, if the campus had a bomb threat, if there was an escaped convict on the campus, or anything of the sorts.

"Whatever it is I'm sure they will take care of it." Riley broke my train of thought, making the group feel a bit safer. However, it wasn't long after he spoke that we all saw two officers come running out from behind a building with their weapons drawn. "But, just in case." Riley's voice had changed to show a bit of uncertainty. "We should probably go home and get out of their way."

Voicing our agreements we stood from our table quickly and disposed of our empty coffee containers. Walking back over to the table we grabbed our bags and heading out of the coffee shop soon to head downstairs. I could not lie and say that I was not moving just as fast as the rest of my friends as we exited the coffee shop and started on our way out of the student center. However, with a sudden realization I knew it was best that we not show our worry.

"Guys…" I started to slow my walk as I knew our fast paced walking made it appear as if we were guilty of something. "Maybe we should…"

"You kids! Stop!" I was too late. We all turned in unison to face the police officers as they approached us, both of their weapons were drawn and faint voices could be heard on their radios; some of them sounded worried. "Are you kids OK?" The male officer asked us, his gun pointed down to the ground.

"Yes…" Julia's response sounded more like a question then an answer to what the officer had asked.

"Where are you going so quickly?" The female officer had begun the questioning that I knew was going to happen. I let out a loud sigh as I heard Alexis answer that we were all headed for home since classes were cancelled for the day.

"You really should not go outside..." The male officer paused for a moment as if he was trying to think of some way to phrase what it was that he wanted to say. I saw his lips part as he was preparing to speak, but was quickly cut off by a loud call on his radio.

_"All officers be alert, targets have been  
>sighted on the outskirts of the campus.<br>Protect students and faculty that are  
>unharmed and keep areas secure." <em>

The transmission had ended just as quickly as it had started, and looking around in the moments that followed the only sounds that could be heard were the same faint voices from before that now seemed a bit more panicked then they had before.

"Shit…" The female officer was the first one to break the silence releasing all of us from the spell of confusion we had previously had cast upon us.

"What the hell is going on?" I finally was the first of us to speak up. I knew now there was something that these officers were not telling us.

"We will explain everything." The male officer gave us each a serious look. I could only interpret the look as his way of trying to get us all to trust him. "We just need you to come with us so we can take you all to somewhere safe.'

"No," Hayley responded first, her tone sounding a bit angered. "We aren't going anywhere until you tell us something." It wasn't hard to tell, with neither of us trying to stop her, that we all agreed.

"We don't…" The officer started but was soon cut off as there was a loud pounding on the glass doors leading out of the front of the student center. I heard a gasp sound somewhere in the student center as we all noticed the same thing about the man that was ragingly pounding on the glass doors. He was covered in blood.

"Fuck, we need to get out of sight." The male officer looked over to the female officer who nodded in response. Before long the man pounding on the door was joined by two others, one was wearing an officer's uniform. "That door isn't going to hold them off for long."

I looked around to the others who shared the same mixture of confusion and fear that was also easily readable on my face. Before I could say anything the male officer shouted loudly to the students that were also staring at the door that they needed to stay away and follow him as he would take them to safety. However, before anyone could react a loud shatter resonated through the entire building as the three men that had been pounding on the glass doors had finally managed to break through them and were now sprinting in the direction of the students.

"They're hurt! You've got to help them!" Julia yelled as she turned to look at the officer's faces. They both had their weapons raised in the direction of the three blood covered men with a look of terror in their eyes.

"Come on!" The female officer shouted as she started backing away. "We've got to go, follow us!"

"You can't just leave them!" Julia shouted back to them. "They're human beings and they look like they're in severe pain!" To be honest with as much blood as they had lost it was a shock to me that they even had the strength to break down the glass and run, but the question remained what exactly they were running from.

"No they're not! Look!" The male officer sounded less calm as he kept his eyes locked past us and on the three men. As we all turned to look at what he was directing us toward we heard a loud scream, followed by a large number of horrified gasps and screams as a response. The sight that stood before us was straight out of a horror movie. The man who had first begun beating on the doors had tackled a young woman and was now tearing into her, but not with his hands; with his teeth. I felt myself take a few steps back as several other screams rang out among the newly frightened students as the two other men had now taken down their own victims.

"What the fuck?" Riley yelled, the first time I had ever heard him sound anything but calm since I had met him. His outburst seemed to catch the attention of one of the bloodied men as he immediately snapped up from whom he had previously been feasting on and darted off in our direction, snarling.

"Come on!" The female officer yelled to us as she and the male officer took off toward the back doors of the student center. "We need to get out of here; it is no longer safe!"

Without even questioning the five of us took to following them, we could hear screams of terror and pain sounding all around us and now it appeared that more of those crazy people were in the building and were after not only them but everyone who still appeared unharmed.

"Where are we going to go?" Hayley sounded just as terrified as the rest of us as we neared the back doors.

"I am not sure, but we have to get out of here, it's too dangerous to be pinned in here with _them_." I couldn't help but focus on the end of the male officer's statement. _Who was he calling them? Was it those people who had been acting crazy? What was wrong with them?_

As we reached the back doors I took one glance back and saw the woman who had first been tackled and attacked when the men had first arrived, except she too was now attacking others along with them. There appeared to be more of them now, and several were heading in our direction. Escaping through the back doors we all stopped outside of the glass doors to a sight far worse then what we had been previously a part of. Gunshots sounded from everywhere as well as civilians and _them _scattering in every direction. I was sure that, much like myself, the others had suddenly been taken over with a blanket of fear at what they were witnessing.

"Shit!" The male officer shouted snapping us all out of our trance as a loud growl was soon heard coming from beside us. I turned to see a dressed officer, with a large portion of his neck missing, sprinting in our direction. The two officers quickly raised their weapons, but the female sent her bullet flying first as it connected with the man's forehead. He fell to the ground in an instant with all of us still in shock of what we had just seen. "Come on! We have to keep moving!" The officer shouted to us.

Too shocked to even respond I stared with the rest of my friends at the limp body of the officer. Neither of us said a word or even made a movement. _How could he have still been alive with that large wound in his neck? What the fuck is going on?_ My thoughts were louder than anything either officer was yelling at us until I felt a tug on my arm that snapped me out of my state of shock. I stared at the officer as he looked at me as seriously as he could, though I could still see terror in his eyes.

"We have to keep moving!" He pulled on my arm as the female officer too was talking to Alexis begging them to move on. I finally nodded in agreement and helped get the others in an understanding that they had to keep moving.

"Where are we going to go?" I heard the female officer ask with uncertainty in her voice.

When the male officer did not respond I could not help but feel a bit worried about what we were going to do and if we were ever going to get to so-called safety. The question still remained what was happening and what was wrong with those people. At that moment it hit me like a ton of bricks as I thought back to the report that had been displayed on the television earlier that morning. This was the disease that had been taking over the south. How it had gotten here so fast I had no idea. I followed the officers and others behind a grouping of small trees to hide for a moment. It was then that the library caught my attention.

"Hey." I shouted to the others "The library!" I saw all of their gazes fall on me as I spoke. Although there was still hell happening around us it seemed we had a safe few seconds to think as we stood behind the trees. "It's the most fortified building on this campus! We have to at least give it a shot!"

I saw the two officers look to each other for a moment before peaking around the trees to see the passageway we would be taking before turning back to us. The male officer turned toward me as he appeared as if he was preparing to say something, but was not quite sure how to phrase his words. The female officer had resorted to staring through the trees with her weapon still ready for use.

"He's right." Alexis was the first to respond in support of me. "The library is the only place we can hope to go even if for a few moments so you can tell us what the fuck is going on."

"OK." The male officer sternly agreed with the students knowing very well that he knew no more than any of us about what to do.

"Then let's go!" Riley urged as the two officers nodded to each other a second time and dashed out from behind the trees, immediately greeted with a plethora of _them_ running directly toward us. I could count at least six in the short glance I had given. Both officers immediately started firing into the crowd of men and women as they continued toward us. I could hear panting all around me which was the only reassurance that I had my friends still with me.

As we approached the library I looked over to my right for a brief moment only to see a young man who I remember having in one of my classes being pulled out of his vehicle by _them _and shortly after becoming a feast. I made it a point to myself to not let my eyes stray from that point on.

"Get in!" The female officer was the first to reach the library doors as she held one of them open for us. I was the first of the group to reach the door and quickly ran through the open door, swinging open the second set of doors and entering the main lobby of the library with the others closely in tow behind me. As soon as I was inside I stopped abruptly as I laid eyes on what shown before me.

And there it is! Oh noooo! What will happen? Guess you'll just have to wait to find out! :D Hope you like it! PLEASE REVIEW! The more reviews the more I will want to update sooner! Thanks so much! :D


	5. Chapter 4: ALEXIS POV

Sorry it took a while to update. My life exploded. Even though I has no reviews…_;…which makes me think no one is reading. Haha. Soooo if that keeps up I may not continue it. Haha.

And just an FYI this chapter is a little bit of learning about the characters more, so sorry that there is no death and destruction going on here.

Chapter 4: Alexis

Standing just inside the entrance of the library I stared at the eyes that were now focused on all of us who had just entered the building. The same fear that had been sweeping over my body was still clearly visible on my face as I stared back into the hungry eyes of those who looked back into mine. However, these eyes were not hungry for flesh, they were hungry for answers.

"Come on, let's go see about boarding up these front doors." The male officer broke the silence looking over to the female who simply nodded to him. By the way they were looking to each other I could not tell whether they truly wanted to help or whether they wanted to avoid having to explain everything to them. "You kids go join the others and we'll…"

"No!" I had never heard Riley raise his voice in such a manner against someone. "You need to tell us what the fuck is going on!" His face showed a mixture of anger and fear.

"Yeah, we have a right to know!" I heard Salem add in with the same livid tone that had been established by Riley.

The two officers looked to each other and stared as if having a silent conversation. The female appeared to have a pleading look on her face as the two telepathically conversed. I heard a sigh come from the male cop before he reluctantly agreed to tell them what was going on. I honestly felt quite angered that they would keep what was going on from us in the first place, especially after what we had all just witnessed and what was now banging on the front doors of the library trying to get to all of those who were still sane inside of the library.

"Just please, let me go help them make this building more safe and then we will both talk to you about this." The male officer looked at us with a sympathetic expression on his face. As quickly as he had spoken out against the officer helping, Riley was the first to agree to the conditions, still with the same angered expression displayed on his face.

"Thank you." The officer smiled briefly as he turned to walk away. "Officer Poralis." The male officer looked to his partner. "Stay with these kids and see make sure no one is_ injured_."

Agreeing with the male officer the woman we now knew as Officer Poralis directed us toward the back of the lobby seated beside a group of students who had blood stains all over their clothes, but it did not appear to be their own. I sat down beside Riley as he brushed a piece of my wavy-brunette hair behind my ear. I feigned a smile at him trying to show him that I was alright, but truly I was just as confused as everyone else.

"Are all of you ok?" Officer Poralis looked around to all of us, only receiving a nod as a response as she scanned our faces. "Ok, good." She paused as she brushed a loose strand of dirty blond hair out of her face in vein as it fell back into her line of sight a moment later. "I am Officer Angela Poralis." She introduced herself; I knew she was just trying to pass time. "What are your names?"

"I'm Salem Pearce." I heard my brother be the first to speak up. I could tell by the look on his face and the tone in his voice that he was not happy that she was trying to kill time. "This is my sister Alexis, and my friends Riley Hammond, Jacob Concord, Julia Morrigan, and Hayley Williams." I saw Jacob and Salem's eyes connect as they had some kind of private conversation to themselves.

"It's nice to meet you all, and I'm happy that you are ok" Officer Poralis paused for a moment as she sighed. A few seconds later there was pounding coming from the front of the lobby. I felt fear shoot up my spine as we all snapped our heads in the direction of the sounds. A feeling of comfort surrounded us as we all saw that the sounds were only surviving officers and volunteers boarding up the entrance to the library. I could still hear the growls and pounding hands of the men and women outside trying to get in.

"So…" Hayley was the first to break the silence that had fallen upon the group. "Can you please tell us something?" The young blonde woman asked as she glanced from the floor to the officer.

"Well," Officer Poralis spoke through a sigh. "Did you all hear of the reports of some new disease happening in the southern states?" I found myself replaying the report we had heard earlier of the disease in my head.

"It's here…isn't it?" Salem was the first to speak up as I saw him lean into Jacob through the corner of my eye.

"Yes." She paused for a moment as if thinking of what she was going to say next. "Those people out there." She pointed toward the doors. "They are infected with whatever this disease is."

"Why are they attacking people?" Julia asked what I knew was the most obvious question that we were all wondering.

"We're not sure, but what we do know is that whoever they kill ends up being infected…" Officer Poralis left her mouth open as she thought out her next words carefully. "…and come back." I watched her eyes scan the group as her voice trailed off.

"What do you fucking mean they come back?" Salem pushed himself off of Jacob as he asked, catching the attention of a few of the surrounding groups for a few seconds.

"Babe…" Jacob placed his hand on Salem's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Please," Officer Poralis waved her hands to try to quiet Salem. "I do not want to worry anyone." She pleaded to him.

"I'm sorry." Salem apologized as he leaned back into Jacob.

"Officer Poralis…" My voice came out softer then I had meant for it to as I grabbed the attention of the female officer. "Are you saying that these people are coming back to life after being killed?" I kept my voice as calm as I could as I knew I had to prevent from panicking myself at the news in order to keep the others calm.

"Please call me Angela. Now is hardly the time for formalities." She let out a small laugh at the end of her sentence. "And yes…" She agreed. "Those that are killed come back to life and begin to attack anyone who isn't."

A wave of silence followed this explanation as I knew everyone, including myself, was trying to take in the news we had just heard. _How can this be happening?_ This same question looped in my head continuously until my attention was taken back to the front doors as I heard a small applause begin and end quickly. The front of the library had been fortified already and by the looks of how empty the lobby had become as far as the furniture went I could tell they had used a lot of care into keeping this place as safe as possible.

"How are you all?" I looked up to see that the male officer had returned back to the group. Not knowing how to respond I looked at the others who had the same expression of uncertainty on their face as I did. "I'm assuming you all now know what is going on." His voice had changed to a more serious tone as he spoke.

"Yes, I informed them." Angela looked at all of us before turning her attention to the male officer.

"Thank you, officer," I was the first one to actually have my voice be heard as I caught the male officer's attention. "For helping make this location safer." All at once the others began to voice their own thanks in agreement with my own.

"Officer Harring." A smile crept across the man's face. "Merrill Harring, and you're welcome." He seemed pleased with the thanks. Before another word could be spoken a voice came on the radio that Officer Harring had connected to his belt. The radio was more-so a lot of yells from a plethora of men and women who appeared to be giving orders.

"S.W.A.T.?" Angela was the first to speak as the voices still went on.

"It sounds like it." Officer Harring agreed with her, his tone was now more serious.

I had to admit that I felt a bit of relief when I heard that the S.W.A.T. team had arrived and was now trying to secure the area. As I kept listening I heard one of the officers mention the library and that they had received information about survivors holding up inside. I felt a smile slowly make an appearance upon my face as I looked over to Riley who was also smiling back at me.

"Does that mean they're going to help us?" Jacob was the first to ask the question that was on all of our minds as I looked around to see that everyone had the same gleam of hope upon their faces that I had unmasked on my own.

"By the sound of things it looks like they are going to try to get you all out of here to one of the safety zones in the city." Officer Harring responded giving us a smile in response to our own before grabbing his radio and bringing it up to his lips. "This is Officer Merrill Harring. I am located in the library with a rough estimate of around two hundred plus survivors. We are free of infection and require assistance."

After Officer Harring spoke there was silence on the other end of the line. I could not help but feel that they had not heard us or were not going to help us. Noticing the look on Harring's face I could see that he too had the same thoughts as our eyes met for a moment. As I looked around I had noticed that those other survivors sitting around us were now also listening to see if there would be a response on the radio.

_"Officer Harring this is Alpha Squad leader Kris Pyrus." _I could feel the tension in the room quickly drop as we heard the voice resonate over the radio. _"I'm glad to hear so many have made it. We are going to sweep the area and I will radio you back in the next half hour when we can make a move to get you all out of there."_

"Sounds great, thank you!" Officer Harring sounded like a giddy little school girl as he answered back before looking back over to us with the most reassuring smile we had seen all day. "We're going to be OK. We can hold up in here until they are done cleaning up the area." He sent a smile our way as he scanned all of our hopeful faces.

"Thank god." Julia was the first to speak as I watched her entire body relax as the stress was somewhat lifted off of our shoulders.

"So what do we do now?" Salem asked, the normal joyous tone had returned to his voice. "Are you guys supposed to go help them or do you get to stay with us?"

"They are the best of the best. What Merrill and I can do now is help by staying with you all and making sure everything remains safe in here." Angela said with a shrug as Officer Harring sat beside her. "So, what are you all here for?"

"Well, that makes me feel like I'm in jail." Riley joked as we all joined him in a small laugh.

"Well, that's not exactly what I meant." Angela spoke through a laugh. "I mean what are you all in school to do?" She rephrased her sentence. I could tell that the two officers were trying to keep our minds off of what was really happening, and by looking around briefly I could see a few other officers doing the exact same with several of the other survivors.

"I'm a senior studying music education from Miami, Florida." Jacob was the first to answer as we tried to hold a conversation. For the first time for the past few hours, it really felt like the world was back to normal, even if just for a moment.

"Senior, interior design, from Austin, Texas." Salem spoke short, sweet and to the point as Haley next explained she was a junior fashion merchandising major from New York City, New York. Riley and I were next both explaining that he was a graduate business marketing major from Sacramento, California and that I was a graduate English major from Austin, Texas.

"I'm with Riley and Jacob in music education, but I'm a sophomore by year from Houston, Texas." Julia was the last to talk as she brushed her short highlighted bangs out of her face.

"Well, it sounds like you all have good plans for your future." Officer Harring spoke with confidence in the fact that the world would have a future; it brought the morale of all of us higher with each passing moment.

However, the confidence was short-lived as we heard a scream come from within the crowd. We all jumped up from our seats on the floor as a multitude of students in panic began to scatter quickly away from where the scream had originated from. I could feel the fear from before flood me again as I felt Riley wrap his arms around me and station me behind him and as far away from any possible danger as he could.

AND THERE YOU HAVE CHAPTER 4! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! :D Now what will they do? Why was there a scream? And wtf kind of a man is an Interior Design major? Hahahaha. Jk jk. (I am…_;…) BUT OK! Reviiiiiieeewwww please! :D!


	6. Chapter 5: Salem POV

AAAAND sorry this took so long. Real life slapped me in the face. BUT! Now I'm back and here is Chapter 5! So what happened with the scream? Who was it? Why did they scream? Why am I postponing this even longer? IDK! Here we go!

Chapter 5: Salem

A practical joke played on a very frightened young lady was the cause of the scream. By the looks of the man who had played it on her he appeared to be in the so-called party fraternity and was just trying to scare his girlfriend as well as everyone else in the lobby. I could see him laughing as the girl exclaimed her anger at him for playing such an ill-timed joke. She angry swatted at him, but he backed easily out of the way.

"That asshole," Haley was the first to voice her opinion as we all turned away from the small group stationed near the front doors, the young lady still scolding her boyfriend as she had now backed him against one of the boarded up glass doors. "They better come soon so we aren't stuck here with him for much longer."

Nodding in agreement I looked over to Jacob who was still focused toward the doors. "Jake?" I called out his name, but his attention was unhindered. "Babe?" I called out again. "Are you ok?" He finally looked toward me and stared for a moment before he smiled and walked toward me, placing both of his hands on my hips and giving me a short kiss.

"Yes, sorry. I just thought I saw something." His eyes peaked back toward the doors again before he smiled back down at me and turned toward the others. My eyes followed where his had been, scanning to see if I could see what it was that he saw.

Conversation continued on in the group as the others joined in laughter and jokes trying to act as normal as possible considering what was happening outside of the building. We could faintly hear gunfire happening, and we knew that the S.W.A.T. team that had called earlier was still cleaning up the area, but it sounded distant, much like it had the entire time.

"What is that sound?" Alexis asked as suddenly we all heard it at once. It sounded much like wood breaking.

"Fuck…" Officer Harring's words sent us all into realization of what was happening as we all peered toward the boarded up doors only to see that we were the only ones who had noticed the sound, and the playful couple that had caused a ruckus earlier was still standing directly in front of the doors. "Hey! Get away from the doors!" Officer Harring yelled as he ran toward the young couple who just stared at him confused.

A loud crunch sounded along with the shattering of glass as extended arms followed by a bloodied face sprang from behind and grabbed the young fraternity male. The undead creature growled loudly as it bit deeply into the young man's neck. An uproar of screams sounded as the other glass doors slowly began to give way to other undead creatures that were making their way through.

"Shit!" Officer Poralis yelled as she drew her gun again checking to see if it was loaded. "We have to get moving! We can't wait here anymore!"

"Officer Pyrus this is Officer Harring." He had lifted his radio to his lips already with his eyes looking around for a means of escape as yet another glass door shattered. "They have broken through our barricade and our flooding in. We need your assistance now!"

Survivors were scrambling in every direction as more undead came crashing through the glass doors and feasting on the nearest living flesh they could find. I looked over at Alexis, Riley, and Jacob standing directly beside me. I turned around to see Julia, Haley, and both officers directly behind me. All of them had fear written on their face and appeared to be frozen, with the exception that Riley was making sure Alexis was positioned behind him to protect her. I could hear a voice coming from the radio telling them to get out of there or find a way to hide and re-barricade the building if possible.

"Come on! We have to get out of this area!" I finally shouted as I grabbed Alexis' arm snapping her out of her trance, getting a nod in response as we both got the others on board.

"Where can we go that's safe in this building?" Officer Harring directed his question at me, and suddenly I felt as if everyone was staring at me, looking for some kind of answer that I did not have for them.

"We…" I was beginning to panic as I noticed a clear path to the stairwell. "Should get off this floor, hopefully they won't see us and follow us." I could only hope as I only got a nod in response from the rest of the group before we started on our way toward the door.

Reaching the door to the stairwell Officer Harring opened it, letting us all go through it, but it appeared some others had followed our idea and began running in behind us, bringing a few of the undead on their tail. Kicking myself for the idea I voiced our need to hurry as we all quickly ran up the stairs, those who had entered the stairwell behind us were now screaming in fear and pain as they had unfortunately been caught by the undead who had gotten in behind them. I peaked over the railing as I continue running to see three undead tearing open the stomach of what appeared to be a faculty member whose screams began to slowly fade away.

"Come on!" I opened the door at the top of the stairwell as we all ran into a hallway that housed several offices. I quickly slammed the door behind us as Officer Poralis propped a chair against the door handle just in time for the undead to begin pounding on it heavily.

"That won't hold forever." Angela voiced as she backed away from the already creaking chair. "We need to find cover somewhere."

"There's only one thing I can think to do…" I said as I looked up from the tiled floor onto the faces of the others, stopping on Jacob's for a moment. His usual calm and cool expression was now filled with terror and uncertainty. I turned away from the group for a moment and let my voice ring as loud as possible. "Help!" I yelled as I started looking around the hallway.

"What are you doing? They will hear you." Julia asked in hushed tones as I turned toward her after yelling once more.

"They already know we are here." I pointed to the door to the chair whose legs were now starting to break. "Help! Please There are eight of us! We are not one of them!" Just as I finished speaking I heard a door creak open near the end of the hallway. Peering down the hall I saw a woman, one whom I had seen several times before in this library, peak her head out of a door and stare at us for a moment before taking notice of the door slowly giving way to the undead behind us before she opened the door a bit wider and began to wave her hand for us to come into the room.

"Hurry," Her accent was thick and it was clear that she was of Asian descent. "Come in my office. Take shelter." Without thinking for another second all eight of us ran through into the office and closed the door behind us, locking it and propping a heavy metal chair in front of it.

"Thank you so much." I whispered as I turned toward the woman who undoubtedly owned the office. She merely nodded with a large smile in response. Part of me was curious if she fully understood what I was saying to her, but considering she was fully aware of what was going on I had a feeling she understood me just find, but was just in shock due to what was happening.

As if knowing that I was too calm for the situation the undead decided to throw another surprise at us by loudly breaking the chair that we had propped against the door to the stairwell and loudly pouring into the hallway. We could hear a mixture of undead howls as well as screams of the living. Had some of the survivors really tried to go up the stairs? Peaking through the closed blinds of the window looking into the hallway I saw a small group of three survivors sprinting down the hall away from a much larger group of undead behind them. Tearing my eyes away I leaned against the door to the office and slid down to the carpeted floor, staring at my shoes knowing very well that it was dangerous to go out there at any time now. If it would not put the rest of the group in danger I would have liked to have helped those three, but surely the group of undead would have seen them.

I could hear Officer Harring talking to Officer Pyrus on the radio through hushed tones announcing that we had found shelter in a small office on the top floor, but were surrounded by the undead outside of the door. I toned out for a few more minutes as the two continued conversing over the radio as I heard shuffling beside me as I looked over to see Jacob inching toward me, a smile splashed across his face, but that was not what I was taking notice to at the moment. Raising a hand to my face I brushed my cheek only to see that a red liquid was now on my fingertips. It had taken me until just now to notice that I had blood on my face, and thinking back, we had all had blood on our face ever since we had run to the library from the student center.

"Salem…" I looked up from my fingertips to Jacob. "It's ok." By the look on his face and the tone of his voice I knew that he knew I was falling into a traumatized state. "We're all ok." He was whispering into my ear as I felt an arm creep over my shoulders. He was embracing me softly as I let a smile form on my face. Although I knew that he did not buy the smile for a moment I knew that he would let it go, knowing that I was trying.

Leaning into Jacob I looked over to Alexis and Riley who were also in an embrace. He was whispering to her words of comfort and it made me smile. I was happy that she had found him and that the two of them had remained together for so long. Looking up to Jacob I smiled to him. By the smile in response I knew that he realized this was a real smile. It was a small hint of the past normalcy that their lives had been less than five hours before.

However, a sudden uproar of screams and growls heard over the radio broke everyone's silence as Officer Harring shoved the radio underneath him so none of the undead still wandering and feasting in the hallways would hear it. As the screams faded away so did my hopes of being saved. By the silence and static that followed we all knew what had happened. Officer Harring was whispering questions into the radio looking for a response, but we all knew that it was hopeless.

Pushing myself off of Jacob I walked over to the second window in the office that looked out over the parking lot. Peering down I saw what appeared to be a large number of S.W.A.T. vehicles, but surrounding them were the undead feasting on the bodies of those agents that were sent there to help them. I could faintly see bodies being torn open and limbs being ripped from their joints.

Unable to tear myself from the sight happening below me I continued to stare without moving. Feeling a hand on my shoulder I knew who it was without even looking. Slowly dragging my head to look at my sister I saw a look of concern displayed clearly on her face. Reaching my hand up and patting hers I reassured her that I was ok before glancing back down only to see that the feasting cannibals were now dispersing as the bodies of those they were feeding on were now up and had joined their ranks.

Turning away from the window I walked with my sister back to the others as she sat down beside Riley again and I resumed my spot against the door, now able to hear the chaos that was still happening outside of the office.

The halls outside were filled with a collaboration of blood curdling screams and the howls of the undead. As my eyes glanced around the cramped office all I could see was the terror upon the blood stained face of those that were left after the outbreak hit our university. When we had first heard about it, we thought it was all a joke, or that it was some foreign sickness that would blow over much like swine flu or mad cow disease. Little did we know, that what had started off only two days before in the southern states was now terrorizing our campus here in New York City.

"Salem?" I jumped at the break in the silence, "What are we going to do?" I heard the whispered words echo in the room.

Even though I knew the undead could not hear such a faint noise it struck fear any time the slightest movement was made amongst the group. The truth was, I had no idea what we were going to do. I had only gotten us this far purely from playing off of guessing games and luck. It was out of sheer luck that Dr. Xiang had even been alive and willingly opened her door to help the frightened students and officers into the only safe room they could find.

As I lay there against the door I stare at the others, mirroring the terror and worry visible upon their faces. I knew then that they all knew that much like them, I had no more ideas as to where to go. Seeing the library as the largest and most reinforced building, it had been my first choice of safety. The problem was; everyone on the campus had the same idea.

"Officer Harring…" I slowly let my gaze fall upon the sturdy male. The look on my face clearly was pleading for him to have a plan. The only response I got was silence as my eyes drug slowly in the direction of the female officer, Angela. Her eyes were directed toward the ground, but I knew she could feel my gaze upon her.

"We have to get out of here." My eyes quickly found their way back to Officer Harring as he began to speak. He scanned the room as he spoke. "If we can get to one of those S.W.A.T. vans outside we can hopefully find some place that is safer, and use the radio to find out what the hell is going on." As I looked upon the others faces I knew they felt the same uncertainty as I did. We all knew he was right, but we were all feeling the same surge of fear rain over us at the thought of going back out into that war zone.

"I'll lead the way." Harring continued as he turned and whispered something to Officer Poralis, receiving a nod as a response. I could tell that they were trying to be brave and professional, but in their eyes they were terrified. However, terror quickly was shoved to the side as adrenaline began to become the main event in my body.

Lining ourselves up, to make our exit more clean and quick, we all braced ourselves for what was about to come. Harring glanced back to the group as he placed his hand on the door handle asking everyone if they were ready. I nodded eagerly with the remaining survivors as we heard the shuffling of footsteps right outside of the door, knowing well who they belonged to. Without a second thought, Harring swung the door open and we all followed him quickly out into the hallway. I could already hear the first few shots being fired into the roaring crowd as I emerged through the door way, back into the line of fire.

AND THERE YA HAVE IT! Wooooo! :D Hope you like it! I haven't received many reviews, but at least I do know that someone is reading it. However, if I don't get more reviews then I probably will not continue it on here just for the fact that no one is apparently reading it. Sooooo please R&R! :D


	7. Chapter 6: ALEXIS POV

Thank you all so much for the reviews! They truly do mean a lot! :D Please keep reviewing and letting me know how I am doing and what you all think I can work on! It truly helps! :D Anyway, here is Chapter 6! The journey through the infected library! :D Enjooooy!

Chapter 6: Alexis

I could not believe that we had all agreed to go back into the mess that was the world outside, but even I knew that we could not have lasted very long behind that small office door and glass window if even one of them had found out that we were in there. The best shot at us getting anywhere and out of this situation was if we got out of this office and to a safer location.

As soon as the door opened I heard a loud roar from the undead signifying that they had now noticed our existence. The first shots sounded as I ran out of the door behind Riley who was keeping a firm grasp on my hand as we came face to face with what appeared to be hundreds of the undead that had managed to make their way up to the top floor.

"Stay behind me!" Officer Harris yelled as he continued to fire into the growling crowd of undead that was charging toward us as if they were Olympic track stars.

All of the undead were blocking the stairway and it seemed that for every one that was shot down there were two more to take its place. Turning around I saw Officer Poralis firing into a smaller group of undead who had been feasting on the group of three that had ran in after we had taken shelter in the office. The three young men's bodies were nothing but a mound of what appeared to be flesh and blood. Intestines were splayed about as if they were wall decorations and I thought what appeared to be an eye lying on the floor near one of the severed feet that still had the designer tennis shoe on.

"Come on!" Officer Poralis' voice freed me of my trance on the carnage before me. "We'll never be able to get passed them to the stairs, we have to take the elevators!" She yelled as she pointed to the elevators near the back of the room.

Surprisingly, within my time in my own mind, she had managed to clear out most of the undead on her side. The only ones that remained were those that had to crawl or had too many severed limbs to be able to move. It baffled me how they had managed to get here, or whether they had once been survivors that had attempted to escape and had been torn apart and turned after they had reached the dead end of the top floor.

"Shit!" Officer Harris yelled as he continued shooting into the crowd that was starting to easily crawl over the bodies that he had strategically piled up in order to create a small wall to make it harder for them to get to us.

"Run!" Hayley screamed as we all started hurriedly toward the elevators dodging the stretching grasps of the crawling demons who yearned for us.

Before I knew it I heard a scream sound from behind us, but it was one of pain more-so then of fear. Turning around I saw one of the undead had a jaw-locked grasp on Officer Harring's shoulder. I heard an unrecognizable gasp come from within the group as we all turned to see the frightening sight.

"Keep going!" Officer Poralis pushed Riley and I forward as we continued on toward the elevators, being the first two in as Salem, Jacob, and the others came crashing in behind us. Officer Poralis used the butt of her gun to forcefully hit the undead being in the middle of the forehead causing him to loosen his grip and letting the male officer run out of its grasp. However, not a second later another of the undead had managed to take hold of Officer Poralis' outstretched hand. Before it was able to cause any harm Officer Harring did a charge toward the undead male and loosened his grip and knocked him off of his feet as the two officer's regained their composure for a brief second before sprinting in the direction of the elevators.

Both officers, covered in blood, squeezed into the full elevator as Riley began frantically pressing the button to close the doors. Officer Poralis raised her gun and began firing into the crowd taking out the first few that were closest to the elevator as the doors closed. A multitude of hands almost immediately began hammering on the other side of the doors as we all hovered around the crouching male officer whose shoulder was bleeding extensively.

"Merrill?" Officer Poralis was the first to speak as she still kept her gun pointed toward the elevator door as we knew that we soon would be back into the world of the undead as soon as those doors opened. "Are you doing ok?" She asked as we heard tearing of a garment only to see that the woman who had let us into her office had torn off the bottom hem of her dress and was using it to wrap the man's wounded shoulder to stop it from bleeding.

"Thank you, Miss…." It was then that not only Officer Harring, but all of us realized that we had not yet learned the woman's name.

"Li Xiang." She spoke, her accent was less noticeable as she said her name. "Min Li Xiang." She smiled at the man as she finished mending his wound.

The elevator began to slow in speed as I looked up from the male officer toward the elevator doors. I heard shuffling around me as the elevator rang signifying that we had reached out destination. Bracing myself for what I was about to face I stared at the doors as they slowly began to slide open. However, the sight I saw nearly left me baffled as the group of us slowly stepped out of the elevator and took in our surroundings.

The room had been cleared of all of the undead that had been there before, the only ones that remained were those that were too dismembered to actually move, and truthfully I was confused on how they had even managed to still been able to turn into the undead considering how much of their body was missing. Walking around the once survivor-housing lobby, I could hear faint growls from the undead from the stairwell, which comforted me that they were all still on the upper floors.

"Here." I heard a voice come from beside me. I turned to see Officer Poralis handing a handgun to Riley, saying that she had found it on the ground and it could be useful.

"Let's look for more weapons." Officer Harrings voice had become raspy and was breaking a bit as he spoke. "You guys are going to need them if we're going to make it outside of this library. Although there aren't any of those things here, there is no doubt that they will be outside."

Riley, Salem, Jacob, and I walked with Officer Harring on one half of the lobby area, every once and a while keeping our distance from an immobile undead being hissing at our presence. We searched the area, finding one other gun, which Salem took possession of, and a few make-shift blunt force weapons that Jacob and I took in our hands, hoping to never have to use them.

As we searched I could not help but notice that Officer Harring was sweating heavily and his bangs, once styled neatly, were now matted to his forehead. However, the sound of another near motionless undead caught my attention as I let my gaze fall upon the open doorway to the stairwell, still able to hear the angry howls of those undead that were now menacing the top floors.

"We should get out of here." I voiced my worry as I kept my eyes on the stairwell.

"She's right. Let's go." Officer Herring agreed as the others voiced their agreements and we wandered over to where Hayley, Julia, Min, and Officer Poralis were located. "We should get going before we have to deal with the ones upstairs finding us as well as the ones we're going to have to deal with outside."

"Oh." Julia was the first to respond, now realizing the high risk of danger that did not bode well for us. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

Both of the officers lead the way out of the library through the frames of the boarded up glass doors that once had been seen as a means of safety to them. I heard glass crumple beneath my shoes as the bright sunlit hindered my eyesight for the first few seconds of my departure into the outside world. Looking up into the sky the world almost looked normal, and if my eyes weren't deceiving me I think there was a plane among the clouds.

It wasn't until I looked down into the area that used to be known as the quad that I came back into reality. What was once a masterfully landscaped center of the university had now become a bloodstained warzone littered with what appeared to remains of human organs splattered on the walls and stoned pathways of what I used to call my second home.

"The area appears to be clear." Officer Harring's voice was getting weaker and raspier the more he talked. "But keep on your guard. These things are sneaky sons-of-a-bitches."

The others sounded their understanding as I tore my eyes away from the scene knowing very well that it was highly unlikely that, other than those that I had around me, I would never see any of my other friends again. I knew now was not the time to be thinking of such things, but I could not stop thinking about my friends and family. I could not help but wonder if Salem was thinking about our family as well.

"Shit!" Salem's voice tore my attention back to the matter's at hand and before I had time to react I saw two undead women running in our direction. Luckily it was only two and Salem and Officer Poralis easily took them down.

However, that's when it hit me; my younger brother was now firing a gun and taking down those who used to be our fellow classmates. Never in my life had I wished this life for either of us, or anyone for that matter. I could not believe that this was actually happening.

"Alright." Officer Poralis spoke as once again my distracted mind was interrupted. I knew that I had to keep sharp and focused and could not continue to let my mind wander, especially when we were out in the open like this. "Let's keep moving before more of them find out we are here."

That was all she had to say for the rest of us to begin our fast jog around the back of the library. Lined up against the side of the wall I took a quick glance upon all of the others faces only to see the same fear and uncertainty that I knew shown on mine. It was the same looks that had been showing on our faces ever since we had first seen the two men slamming on the doors outside of the student center when all of this chaos had begun.

"It's pretty messy by the vans, but they don't appear to be there." Officer Poralis spoke, but it wasn't her voice that I was paying attention to at the time. My mind was focused on her partner. "We're going to have to move quickly…" She continued speaking as my eyes were still glued to the male officer who was now sweating much more than before and looked to be in a lot of pain. I was beginning to become worried about his state of being.

As we all darted around the corner I began to notice that at this time and place I was simply going through the motions more than actually thinking about what I was doing. Fear had truly overtaken my body and the only thing that was keeping me moving was the adrenaline and will to keep going.

"Alexis…" I heard my name as I looked up at Riley with a blank stare. Behind his voice I could hear Officer Poralis in one of the vans with Salem and Jacob attempting to hotwire it considering the keys were probably strapped to the belt of an undead menace. "Baby…" His voice spoke out again, this time it was softer and was filled with worry. I stared into his concerned eyes but did not say a word. I felt his warm hand take hold of my own as he pulled me into his embrace. We stayed there for what seemed like an eternity as he spoke words of consolation softly in my ear.

"What's wrong with Officer Harring?" We slowly separated as Julia spoke. I looked over to Merrill who was now sitting on the tar covered parking lot. It appeared the wrap that Min had made for him was not keeping the bleeding from happening. His entire right side of his body was covered in his own blood that continued to drain down the side of his body.

"Merrill?" I hadn't even noticed that Officer Poralis had already gotten the van started and was now walking slowly toward her bleeding partner. "Answer me." Her voice demanded as all of our attention was now on her partner who sat motionless on the black top parking lot.

I felt myself take a step behind Riley as the male officer looked up and scanned across all of us as if it was the first time he was seeing us. His face looked pale and was covered in sweat, but that was not what part of his face that had my attention. His eyes; they were different.

OH NOOOOO! Meeeerrriiillll! D: Well, I hope you all liked it! :D I certainly enjoyed writing this chapter much more than most! Just meant a lot more knowing that some of you actually wanted more to come, and here it is! :D Anyway! Please R&R! Let me know what you all think! I always appreciate Constructive Criticism! It really helps! :D


	8. Chapter 7: SALEM POV

Hey hey! Sorry it took so long for the next chapter! I have been SWAMPED with summer classes since I recently changed my major and it's been murderous trying to find any free time to do anything! Haha! Anyway! Thanks again for the reviews! Please keep them coming! I truly do appreciate them! :D

Chapter 7: Salem

The questioning tone of Angela's voice as she spoke the male officer's name sent a shiver down my spine as I turned around with the others and looked upon the now yellow eyes that were glaring back at us. I felt myself freeze in place as the once kind officer stood up, his eyes still scanning the group of survivors. It was not a new thing to see one of the newly turned undead standing in front of me, but it was new to have it be someone that I actually knew.

"Everyone," My attention was snapped back to reality as Angela spoke. The male officer had started lazily taking steps toward us; the look on his face appeared a mixture of hunger and confusion. "Slowly move toward the car. Don't make any fast movements."

I felt myself begin to slowly creep toward the armored van, my eyes scanning the surrounding area to make sure that we weren't overlooking anything, but my attention was quickly taken back to the officer as I heard a small growl sound from the throat of the undead in uniform. The attempts of subtlety failed as the low growl was soon followed by a loud snarl while the yellow eyed cannibal suddenly resembled a track star and sprinted in our direction.

"Get in the van!" Angela yelled as she lifted her gun toward her infected partner. I felt myself being pulled away from the scene as Jacob wrapped his arms around me and drug me to the van. The look on Angela's face was that of pure distraught, she was mortified about what she had to do. I saw her take in one last breathe and without a second thought fired directly into the forehead of her partner. Within a split second he lay on the floor, motionless.

By the time I had reached the van, Angela was still staring at the body of what used to be one of her dearest friends. I paused for a moment, unsure of what it was that we could say to her at this moment. However, my mind was brought back to reality as I heard the engine rev as if someone was pushing on the gas pedal. I looked over to see Min sitting at the driver's seat attempting to get us to get Angela into the van. With one quick glance through the trees to the commons area I could see a group had already heard the engine of the van and were now headed this way.

"Angela!" Hayley spoke out before I could. "We have to go! They're coming!" Angela slowly turned her head toward the group, her eyes were filled with sorrow. I tore my own eyes away from her to peer upon the group of undead that were inching closer with every passing second.

"Fuck!" I heard Riley yell as he and Jacob leapt out of the van and ran toward Angela. A few shouts of protest rang out from the women, as I had still kept my mouth closed, my eyes on the group that within a matter of seconds would undoubtedly see the three in the open area and go for them. I only hoped they could get back in time.

It had only taken a short sprint to get to Angela before they tore her away from her partner's body. She seemed to be protesting at first, but after a moment finally agreed to go with them. As they started toward the van in a slow jog the undead horde came around the corner of the library and let out a loud growl as they peered upon the live flesh that was before them. One of the creatures was missing an arm, while many of the others had several portions of their faces completely covered in gore as well as chunks of their upper bodies having been ripped out by the ravaging teeth that turned them into this diseased state.

"Shit!" I heard Jacob yell as the three of them took off as fast as they could toward the van. The three dove into the van as Julia slammed the sliding back door shut just in time for the undead to begin pounding on it wanting in.

"Drive! Let's get out of here!" Angela was surprisingly the first one to speak up as Min stepped on the gas and started out of the university parking lot as we all looked out the back window to see the horde, although keeping up as well as they could, slowly falling behind.

"Angela…I…" Angela shot her hand up at me as I stopped in the middle of my sentence.

"Don't…" It seemed the only word she could form at the time, but it said more than anyone else could have. She was not ready to go back to what she had just done.

"Where are we going?" The thick accent of the driver sounded throughout the van, asking the one question that was undoubtedly always in the back of all of our minds. Staring at each other for a moment, it became clear that none of us knew exactly where to go.

"Wait…the radio!" Angela spoke out remembering what her partner had said about using the radio. She swung herself around the passenger seat of the armored van and picked up the radio head, clicking the small button on the side before announcing who she was and if anyone was out there.

"Are you alright, babe?" I heard a familiar voice come up behind me as I had suddenly realized that I had been the only one who had not spoken in quite some time.

With a simple nod I feigned a smile at him as his brow arched at me, showing me that he knew that I was either lying or not telling him the whole truth. With a small chuckle I slapped him on the leg, playfully. "Yes, I am fine," I let out a real smile. Somehow he always got me to let one out. "I promise." I encouraged as he smiled, accepting my answer and giving me a small peck on the lips before dropping the subject and staring out of the darkened back door window.

"Ok, apparently there is a safe house at the High School in town." Angela broke the silence that had fallen upon the passengers in the armored van as I could feel a sudden rush of relief fall upon the group as Angela began giving directions toward the high school to Min.

"How are you guys doing?" I looked over to Riley and Alexis as I spoke. The two stared at me for a moment as if not sure how to answer the question before Alexis finally opened her mouth to speak.

"We are doing good." She said, her voice sounding a bit monotonous much like a 1990's female cartoon character we had all grown to love over the years. "Just still trying to figure out how and why this is all happening." She continued on as she glanced up to Riley who simply rubbed her shoulders for a brief moment before giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"What about you two?" I looked over to Hayley and Julia who appeared to be staring out of the back of the van with intensity for the moment. When they did not respond I followed their gaze as I looked out of the back of the van to see what they were looking at. The city was completely overturned due to this epidemic. Papers littered the streets, and burning vehicles, along with ones covered in blood of those not fortunate enough to have gotten away, were blocking several roadways. In many instances Angela had already had to tell Min to take a different route to get to their location.

"Where are all of the people?" Julia was the first one to speak up, her tone was soft, but audible.

"Dead…" Angela let the sickening truth sink into our minds as we all stared at the littered streets again, empty of any signs of life.

"But then where are all of the dead people? Wouldn't they be walking around?" Hayley continued on, her curiosity clear in her tone as she spoke.

"No, they go straight after the living." Angela answered again, her voice had grown slightly more menacing and full of anger; vastly different from the woman they had met. "They are probably all at the high school, to be honest, if that's where the survivors are being taken."

The realization that we were going into the pit against these undead was almost enough for me to not want to go to the High school. However, I knew that if the armed guards were there, then surely there would be a better chance for survival against them if we had protection and better weapons then the guns we had picked up in the library. Staring down I realized the gun I had been given was still in my hand. I had been clenching onto the hard metal ever since it had been placed in my sweating palm. Releasing my grip on it I heard the metal clank against the bottom of the van, startling a few of the others around me before I looked up at Jacob who was staring at me with his infamous quizzical brow.

"I promise." I spoke the last two words again that I had said to him previously, returning the smile on my face as I squeezed his hand. He accepted the terms, a bit reluctantly it seemed, but I was not going to show that it bothered me.

"Oh, my god." I heard Min speak the words as if she had just seen a horrific terror in front of her.

In response I heard the others scramble to the front with me as we laid eyes on what used to be a high school before us. With the tall, electric fences, hundreds of soldiers, and even more bodies of undead lying around the edges, it was clear to see that this once place of education was now a fortified area of protection. There were still a large number of undead who could be seen banging on the fences around the high school; luckily they had not taken notice of our vehicle.

Angela used the radio to notify the man whom she had been talking to before that we were in the vehicle outside of the high school. It was not long before the man returned the message welcoming them to the safe house and telling them to pull around to the back side where the gates opened. Before the message had even finished Min had already begun around to the back as the gate quickly opened for them to drive through. Shots were fired as no doubt a few undead had attempted to get through the gate while it was open, but happily they were all disposed of as the gate was once again closed. They had reached safety.

Opening the door of the van, one of the officers pointed his gun to the students sitting in the back immediately asking if any of them had been infected. All responding at once we all knew that we had not as two other officers checked Min and Angela as they were let out of the van. After they had all voiced their assurance that they had not been infected the officers put their guns away and allowed the students out of the van. They voiced their happiness that they were still finding survivors as the day progressed.

"Thank you so much." Julia was the first to speak. "Thank you for all that you guys are doing. It's truly remarkable." She continued as Jacob, Alexis, Riley, and I began on our way inside of the high school with the others following close behind.

"We have enough food and water…" One of the soldier's who had been talking's voice trailed off as I laid my eyes upon the sight inside of the Gymnasium. There were undoubtedly two hundred hospital beds set up with doctors and nurses running around attempting to help those who had been injured.

"What is this entire medical staff doing here?" Min voiced the same question I knew we had all been thinking. There was a hospital not twenty minutes from the school; surely they were more needed there then here.

"The hospital was one of the first places overrun with these things. It is suicide to even attempt to go back there. We got out as many nurses and doctors as we could before they, too, were infected." The officer spoke as he told us to continue on toward the cafeteria where the rest of the survivors were being held.

"Oh…wow…" Alexis was the first to voice her thoughts as we entered the large cafeteria and stared out at all of the hundreds of people that were sitting around, conversing. The officer told us to stay in this area, and that if we needed there was food in the back area.

"So…what now?" Hayley asked as we all looked over to Angela who simply shrugged and sat down beside of what appeared to be a group of high school students.

"Now we just wait it out I suppose." Angela said as she took a cigarette from her carton and lit it up, closing her eyes as if she was savoring the taste. "We're safe here for the time being, I'm sure the armed forces can handle this." Angela continued as she took another drag of her cigarette.

With a look around at each other we all sighed in agreement with her and sat down. I felt myself lean into Jacob as he wrapped his arms around me. I was happy that through all of this, both of us had managed to make it unscathed along with my sister, Riley, and two of my best friends Hayley and Julia. I could only hope the danger was over for us now, but something told me that this was only an intermission to the main event that was in the near future.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! :D I hope you liked it, the next chapter SHOULD be coming up soon, but we shall see with all of my classes. Anyway! Thanks for reading and please keep reviewing! I always love t hear criticism! It makes it oh so much more enjoyable! :D


	9. SubChapter 1: ANGELA POV

So while I'm working on the next chapter I thought it would be nice to get to know a little bit of the other characters a little more while they're going on this journey. :D Hope you like it! I'm thinking about doing this every once and a while in between future chapters with several of the other bonus characters. Let me know if you like it and would like more! :D

Sub-Chapter: Angela

Sitting on the floor in the cafeteria of what used to be a well established high school I let my gaze drift across the others who had survived with me now knowing our group had one less member then it did when our fiasco in the library had begun. I let my eyes drop to the ground as I began to think back at what had happened.

His eyes; they were no longer the sincere and kind eyes that I had stared into so many times before when Merrill had began training me and accepted me as his partner when no one else in the department would. Now he was dead, and it was my fault. No. It was not my fault; he was already dead before I killed him, right?

As much as I tried to believe myself I could not help but feel that it was still my fault. I knew that there was nothing I could have done after he was bitten, but all I could think was that there had to have been something I could have done for him not to have been infected in the first place. I could not help but ask why I was not the one that had been taken, and why this kind man who had worked so hard to protect her, the librarian, and these students from all that had come their way. These survivors would have definitely been in better hands with Merrill instead of me.

"Angela?" I heard a voice call out to me as I noticed my gaze had shifted from the floor to the luminescent lights that shined down on those who were sitting on the hard floor.

I looked over to Julia who yet again called out my name asking if I was alright. I felt the words forming in my mind, but for some reason my voice did not want to utter the lie that my mind had formulated in response to the question.

"Not really." My voice betrayed me as the truth softly flowed out. "I guess this whole thing is catching up to me. Especially…." My voice dared not speak of what I had just done, and even though I had cut the sentence short I knew the others understood what it was that had been bothering me most.

"It's ok. You did what you had to do." I felt a sudden rush of comfort overwhelm me as the group of survivors I had only known for a few hours suddenly came by my side and surrounded me, each of their faces mirroring a look of concern showing that they understood what it was that I was going through.

"I know…I just." I felt my throat tighten as I tried to speak, and small pools of water form in my eyes. I knew what was happening. Although the act had become foreign to me since I had vowed never to commit such a personal crime ever since my starting at the police academy I felt the wet beginnings of a breakdown slowly trickle down the curves of my cheeks. Looking up to the others I quickly scanned their faces once more, many of the other females had begun to have their own tears form in their eyes. I felt a plethora of arms reach out and surround me with comfort and with one final breath I cupped my hands over my face and fell, sobbing, into the warm bodies that surrounded me.

HOPE YOU LIKED IT! Let me know if you'd like more of these! The more reviews, the faster I get new chapters out! Thanks so much for your continued reading! :D Thanks!


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